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Introduction to Electricity and Electronics This chapter addresses the fundamental concepts that are the building blocks for advanced electrical knowledge and practical troubleshooting. Some of the questions addressed are: How does energy travel through a copper wire and through space? What is electric current, electromotive force, and what makes a landing light turn on or a hydraulic pump motor run? Each of these questions requires an understanding of many basic principles. By adding one basic idea on top of other basic ideas, it becomes possible to answer most of the interesting and practical questions about electricity or electronics. Our understanding of electrical current must begin with the nature of matter. All matter is composed of molecules. All molecules are made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons. General Composition of Matter Matter Matter can be defined as anything that has mass and has volume and is the substance of which physical objects are composed. Essentially, it is anything that can be touched. Mass is the amount of matter in a given object. Typically, the more matter there is in an object the more mass it will have. Weight is an indirect method of determining mass but not the same. The difference between mass and weight is that weight is determined by how much something or the fixed mass is pulled by gravity. Categories of matter are ordered by molecular activity. The four categories or states are: solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. For the purposes of the aircraft technician, only solids, liquids, and gases are considered. Element An element is a substance that cannot be reduced to a simpler form by chemical means. Iron, gold, silver, copper, and oxygen are examples of elements. Beyond this point of reduction, the element ceases to be what it is. Compound A compound is a chemical combination of two or more elements. Water is one of the most common compounds and is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The Molecule The smallest particle of matter that can exist and still retain its identity, such as water (H2O), is called a molecule. A molecule of water is illustrated in Figure 10-1.
Substances composed of only one type of atom are called elements. But most substances occur in nature as compounds, that is, combinations of two or more types of atoms. It would no longer retain the characteristics of water if it were compounded of one atom of hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. If a drop of water is divided in two and then divided again and again until it cannot be divided any longer, it will still be water. |
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